Ezekiel 22

Ezekiel 22 is full of God’s wrath.  He lists off dozens of things the people have done wrong and continue to flounder in.  There are a couple that jumped out at me.  One that I know we are guilty of at times: “And you’ve forgotten me”.  There it is again – that pesky “remember” thing.  God wants us to know Him and to stay connected.  It is not OK to just call to Him when we are in a crisis.  We have to have a relationship.  A second was: “They tell people there’s no difference between right and wrong”.  This is a frustrating thing I see and hear all the time – everything is gray – there is no wrong or right, it depends….balony!  There is a right and wrong and it is based on God’s Word.  We cannot fall prey to this kind of thinking.  A biblical world view is God’s view.  We have to stand firm on this and not allow the church or anyone to pull us away from that.  The third is very applicable to our time now: “politicians are like wolves….taking whatever they want”.  Enough said – just remember that your vote counts and you need to cast it wisely.  There are lots more that Ezekiel says to the people from God.  Bottom line.  We need to live in God’s way according to His Word and His will.  That is it.  No magic, just obedience.  So let’s go do the right thing and walk in obedience to our God!

Ezekiel 21

Ezekiel has some strong words today about the sword.  It is going to come down hard on the people.  God is not going to be gentle – he is going to clean things up.  It is described as: “a sword to kill, a sword for a massacre, A sword relentless, a sword inescapable”.  God is serious about our holiness.  He requires us to live His way.  There is a price to pay when we fail to do that.  The reason the sword is coming – “because your sin is now out in the ope so everyone can see what you are doing”.  God cares about sin.  He cannot tolerate it.  It is against His character.   Life matters – how we live determines eternity.  We must come to terms with sin.  Jesus is the solution to give us life eternal.  Are you sure of your future?

Ezekiel 20

The second half of Ezekiel 20 starts with these words: “Don’t do what your parents did”.   That sounds like a parenting failure to me.   Ezekiel calls out a couple of the issues that these people had passed on to their kids:

1.       Don’t take up their practices.

2.       Don’t make yourselves filthy

Obviously the parents were not walking with God and it was impacting their kids.  Hello – whether you like it or not that is what happens when you are a parent.  Your kids pick up all your bad traits and few of your good ones, at least that is how it seems at times.  But it is not really the case.  They learn a lot more than they will ever admit until they are in their twenties.  Then the old parents start to get a lot smarter and how they did things maybe even starts to become the pattern their kids follow.  That is God’s plan for the family.  But it is predicated on good parents.  It is designed first for two parents – which is why marriage is so important to God.  It is not something we should take lightly.  God designed His plan around that.  And He also designed His plan around two parents who are deeply engaged in leading and loving their kids.  Our world is in the condition it is today because of parents, not the kids.  People complain that kids are no good – they are not respectful or obedient etc.  Guess where that comes from.  Guess whose fault that is.  The adults need to step up and be adults.  We need to focus on walking with God, building our marriage, teaching our kids and living in God’s economy the way He designed it.  Until we do, bad things will continue to happen.  God made it clear to the people it will end His way: “I will be King over you…. you’ll realize that I am GOD”.  It isn’t a matter of if He will reign.  It is a matter of when.  We need to make sure it happens sooner than later, certainly in my life and yours.  Now is the time to put Him on the throne and that starts in my life today.  Is He on the throne in yours?

Ezekiel 20

They were wanting some direction so they sought God’s man on the ground – Ezekiel.  Of course, God doesn’t tell Ezekiel to answer their questions but rather “Hold them accountable”.  Did you catch that?  God doesn’t just flow answers to questions that are raised by these leaders – He begins with accountability.  What have you done with what you already know?  Are you doing what I told you up to this point?  I find this to be very enlightening.  As a believer, sometimes we keep coming back to God asking Him what we should do next when we haven’t done what He already told us to do.  God is not in the suggestion business.  He gives His direction and will for one reason – for us to obey it.  When we fail it is silly to think we can go back and ask for the next thing.  We didn’t do the previous, so why would we receive the next.  It is a key to being able to receive God’s will – we have to obey what we already know it to be.  Much of God’s will is clearly revealed in scripture.  We have to be obedient to what He already has given us before we can expect Him to unveil more.  The people had been walking in disobedience and God put them in the desert to learn a lesson.  He makes a very revealing statement about Himself: “I acted out of who I was, not by how I felt”.  God is a God who acts by His character, thankfully not by how He feels of based on what we deserve.  He had and has every reason to wipe us off the face of the planet based on how we live.  Yet he clearly states that his goal is to be “in the business of making them holy”.  God wants to help us become holy and righteous. He wants us to become like Him, at least more like Him.  But we rebel and He has to deal with us.  We must be accountable – we must be obedient – we must be thankful that God is a God of character, not feeling.

Ezekiel 19

Ezekiel 19 is quite a change of pace.  Makes me wonder if Ezekiel was having a bad day or what is up with this chapter.  It begins with “sing the blues”.  He talks about a couple things – lions and vines.  He uses two illustrations to teach his point.  First the lion story is about a “robust young lion” who had earned the fear of all.  “He ate men” which would probably be enough to get my attention.  But in this story, that lion was hunted down and taken away.  A second lion becomes just as powerful and it too is captured and taken to the king of Bablyon with a “wooden collar on him”.  The vine story is about the same – a gian vine that “reached to the clouds” but soon became “shriveled” up and was no more than a stick in the desert.  We can go from power to powerless in an instant.  To me the story is a need to recognize that no matter what our current situation, it can change instantly.  If we think we are on top of the world, and in control or reaching the clouds, look out – change may be coming.  It is only when we walk with God that we can be assured of His hand of power and protection.  Scripture tells us that He is glorified in our weakness and that the strong will become weak.  Sometimes we get caught up in wanting to be in control, to have power and money and influence, but God alone owns those things.  At best He entrusts us with some of it.  Are you a mighty lion or a sturdy vine?  If you are trying to be that on your own, your future is not secure.  It is only when we trust in the Lord and walk in His ways that we can hope to be used by Him.  He alone possesses the universe.  He wants to use us but we need to be plugged into His plan and walking in His way. 

Ezekiel 18

The last section of Ezekiel 18 contains some very common sense but scriptural truth we need to consider.  God makes it clear that His desire is that people live correctly.  He states it is “my pleasure that they turn around, no longer living wrong but living right–really living”.  God wants us to live right – to really live.  What does that look like?  It means we live “upright” and stop sinning.  It means we align our lives with God’s Word and His will for our lives.  It means we have relationship with Him and put Him on the throne of our lives as Lord.  Of course the people accuse God of not being fair.  Do you hear that from people – that’s not fair?  Do your kids lay that on you all the time?  So often we do the same with God.  God – that’s just not fair.  You can’t really expect that from me.  But God does expect it and He requires us to live according to His law.  Here is the reality we need to keep in mind: “I’ll judge each of you according to the way you live”.  Personal accountability is God’s way of dealing with you and me.  It isn’t going to be what my parents did, or my kids, or my wife.  God will judge me for what I do.  Plain and simple – no passing the buck – it is on my shoulders to live in accordance with His requirements.  Sin drags us down and keeps us from achieving that.  He gives us the solution.  Scripture tells us to “get a new heart….get a new spirit”.  We have to move off our old nature and put on the new.  We need to put Jesus on the throne of our lives so we can walk in harmony with God.  It isn’t rocket science but rather recognizing what lies ahead if we live on our own standards.  God says “why would you choose to die”?  What a question for us to consider.  But if we don’t make a chance, make the right choice, we will do exactly that.  God has given us a solution to our wrong living – and it is Jesus.  We need to make the choice to LIVE.

Ezekiel 18

The first half of Ezekiel 18 reveals some very straight truth about sin and responsibility for it.  I love how the Message puts it: “The parents ate green apples, the children got stomachache”?  I don’t hold myself out to be a counselor, but as a parent I have had many discussions with other parents about why their kids made bad choices in life and have turned away from or against God.  Why did they do this or that is a common question we all ask about our kids.  Pay very close attention to the answer Ezekiel and God’s Word in general has for this: “You die for your own sin, not another’s”.  That is true of family, friends, employees, churches – it is God’s principal.  We die for the choices we make – sin is a choice to disobey God – and we are accountable for our own choices but CANNOT take responsibility for what someone else does, even our own children.  Sin is personal – it belongs to the one who made the choice to sin and no one else can take that responsibility or shield another from it.  So many parents I talk with say “it is my fault” when discussing something a child has done.  Please understand that I believe parenting is critical to the success and outcome of our kids lives, but when it comes to sin – they do that on their own.  You and I do that on our own.  The devil made me do it doesn’t fly, nor does my parents made me do it.  Sin is a choice an individual makes – plain and simple.  There may be influences and tendencies and all kinds of other factors that lead one to the edge of temptation, but the choice to sin, to violate God’s law and rules belongs to the sinner and no one else.  Here is the real truth we need to latch on to from this chapter: “the person who lives upright and well shall live a full and true life”.  Oh how this resonates to me.  Living with a daily discipline of just doing the right things – living by strong spiritual habits – is so important in making sure we live “upright and well”.  Life is daily.  It is moment by moment.  We need to be grounded in the right habits so we succeed.  We need to build those habits into our kids lives too.  That is our contribution to their future success with life and their relationship with God.  As parents we need to teach them, remember life lessons and share those, and build spiritual habits into their lives that will endure the test of time.  That is how we can help our kids and why Proverbs tells us to “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it”.  So don’t ever fall for the idea you can transfer the punishment for sin to someone else.  If you choose it, you will be the one who is held accountable before God.  There is one piece of good news for all of us.  Through grace and mercy, God has made a way for us to choose Jesus rather than deal with the end result of our sin.  If we choose a relationship with Christ, He will take the penalty for our sin and set us free.  We can’t push our sin on Him, but He has offered to take it if we will accept Him as our Lord and Savior.  Short of that one solution, we will pay the price for how we live.  Life matters.  A life with Jesus is the only way!

Ezekiel 17

Ezekiel 17 really speaks to the power of covenant and keeping our word.  Ezekiel writes of two vines, one small that is made great, and one great that is made small.  The difference is how they are watered and cared for and their desire to be true to their word.  Scripture makes it clear that what we say and do matters: “Because he broke his word and broke the covenant, even though he gave his solemn promise, because he went ahead and did all these things anyway, he won’t escape”.  Do you keep your word?  Sometimes we say things and don’t follow through.  Sometimes we don’t really think it matters that much.  But God holds us accountable for the things we say, and when we make a covenant, it is a much bigger deal.  In this case God says: “because the king despised my oath and broke my covenant, I’ll bring the consequences crashing down on his head”.  Note it doesn’t say here that God will gently give us a time out in the corner til we figure it out.  Crashing down – that is pretty much a strong whack to the head.   Words matter.  God is listening.  We need to be careful what we say and commit to.  Is your word good?  Are you keeping your covenant?  Probably for most of us that begins with the covenant of marriage we made when we walked down the aisle.  As a follower of Christ, we very well may have made a covenant through baptism to become dead to self and alive in Jesus.  What things have you committed to or promised you are struggling to be true to.  Take a look.  God is watching……..

Ezekiel 16

Ezekiel 16 is a long chapter and the second half continues God’s word to Ezekiel concerning the people He calls His own.  God restates the problem: “Because you didn’t remember what happened when you were young but made me angry with all this behavior, I’ll make you pay for your waywardness”.  The people have a big issue because they failed to remember and obey.  God compares them to the people of Samaria, whom He said didn’t “sin half as much”, and the people of Sodom, whom you may recall God wiped out.  Pay attention to what God says about His people compared to those from Sodom: “it didn’t take you long to catch up and pass them……. you’ve outsinned them so completely….you’ve actually made them look righteous”.  Oh my goodness, this doesn’t bode well for the people of God.  They have not just moved slightly away from God.  They have surpassed those whom God became so disgusted with He wiped them out.  Sin has a way of getting us a lot further down the path to separation from God that we think it will.  I am sure when the people began sliding away from God, it wasn’t with the intention of going so far they would surpass Sodom.  But that is what sin does.  It takes us farther than we intend and keeps us longer than we expect.  Our only response to sin has to be to flee it.  Once we allow it to get a foothold, we are not able to control the cancerous approach it takes in our life spreading and destroying along the way.  So certainly God is not happy.  But He is consistent.  He deals with sin and then He says this: “All the same, I’ll remember the covenant I made with you….you’ll remember your past life and face the shame of it, but when I make atonement for you, make everything right after all you’ve done, it will leave you speechless”.  God remembers….we may not but He always does.  And while He cannot tolerate sin in our lives, He never forgets His love for us and never leaves nor forsakes us.  He has made atonement for us through Jesus Christ.  Our future is the same as the people of God – destruction – unless we accept the free gift of atonement through Jesus.  Have you been set free from sin?  Is your future secure?  God will deal with us.  Make sure you are ready……

Ezekiel 16

Ezekiel is given the word of the Lord to confront Jerusalem about the way people are living.  It doesn’t sound pretty at all.  They were not walking in step with God and had perverted all that God desired from them.  God’s message began with His adoption of His people, poor and helpless.  He reached down and drew them to Himself and took care of them.  He watched them grow and as they became more mature, He called them His own.  He covered them with blessings, with gifts of all kinds and provided much more than they needed.  His children had it pretty darn good.  So what did they do?  They wasted it all and became a people that lost touch with their God.  They “whored” it away and moved completely in a different direction that God desired.  They forgot their heritage and the goodness of their God.  These words just jumped off the page at me: “Not once…….did you remember”.  We have to remember what happens in our life.  We have to write it down and share it with those who come behind us.  Our relationship with God matters to those who follow.  It is the foundation of our legacy but we often are “too busy” to record God’s faithfulness and thus have nothing to share.  We can’t let that happen.  We must be disciplined in sharing what God does and is doing with those we live with today and those who will follow in the years to come.  WRITE IT DOWN!  So God once again is forced to restore His people.  Check this out: “Finally, I intervened……reduced your borders….. turned you over…….to your enemies”.  Why do we have to be reduced and turned over to get our attention focused where it needs to be.  We can prevent those lessons if we only stay connected to the Father.  We can avoid the pain and heartache of walking away from God if we only choose (and it is a choice) to stay connected and walking in obedience to His will.  It is so obvious to see and so hard to do.  Let’s encourage and push one another to walking a life of remembering, of recording and sharing what God has done and is doing in our lives.  It is critical for today and the future.  I hope you will share some of God’s faithfulness in your life with me.  Nothing is more encouraging that seeing God’s hand at work in someone’s life.  Let me know what He is doing in yours………